Intro to Board to Board Connector Series Part 6

What are the Connector Contact Material and Plating?

Base material

A connector usually uses a copper alloy as the base material for its contacts(pins). Different alloys offer different performances on conductivity and physical endurance. Here’s a comparison between some of the common ones.

Plating

Plating affects the connector’s performance, life cycle, quality, and cost Plating involves two parts: the underplating and finish plating:

Under-plating

Underplating is used to enhance the performance. It forms an internal diffusion barrier (Zn and Cu through gold) and prevents pollutants from reacting with base metals. Also, it acts as a medium to help the finish plating adhere to the base material.

Nickel is the most common and important under-plate in current use because of:

  • Corrosion resistance
  • Wear resistance
  • Solderability
Finish plating

There are options for finish plating, depending on the design requirements and the budget.

I. Gold Plating:
  • Excellent resistance to corrosion.
  • Excellent conductivity and low electrical resistance.
  • High cost.
II. Tin Plating:
  • Excellent solderability and conductivity.
  • Low durability and can form an oxide film.
  • Tin can be further characterized as bright tin or matte tin.
A. Bright Tin

Bright tin can be easily identified with its glossy texture. It is good against corrosions, with the sacrifice of its solderability.

B. Matte Tin

Matte tin, as opposed to bright tin, has a dull texture, which is not as appealing as the bright tin. However, it offers good protection against corrosions without costs to its solderability.

III. Selective gold-tin plating

Gold plating on contact area and tin plating on tail. It offers a good balance between the advantage of gold and the lower cost of tin

IV. Others

Greenconn offers more than our standard Gold, Tin, or selective plating in gold and tin.

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